Kim Ogg always wanted to be a district attorney. She grew up around politics, with her father serving as a state senator, but her mother may have had more influence over her ultimate path. While Ogg was a child, her mother was abducted by a serial rapist who threatened to kill her. She managed to escape by jumping from his moving car. “I didn’t realize until I was 45 what an effect that had on my life and career,” Ogg says.
She joined the DA’s office right out of law school, handling dozens of murder cases and eventually becoming the chief felony prosecutor for Harris County, which includes Houston. She subsequently ran an anti-gang task force for the city of Houston and directed Crime Stoppers, a private group that links civilian tipsters with police. After losing in 2014, Ogg was elected DA in 2016.
One of her first acts was to stop prosecutions for small amounts of marijuana. Ogg was convinced that her office had been devoting too much time and too many resources to minor offenses, which distracted from crimes against people and property. Under Ogg, the focus now is clearly on major crimes such as rape, sex trafficking and murder.
Read about the Women in Government program and the rest of the honorees.
Natalie Delgadillo is an editor and writer living in Washington, D.C. Her work has appeared in the Washington Post, Bloomberg's CityLab, and The Atlantic. She was previously the managing editor of DCist.
